Own a Hybrid? Wipe That Smug Look Off Your Face, You Warmonger!

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

F*ck Heroin. This is the Real Deal.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe. One could imagine the tongues dripping with saliva at the press conference.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops, hybrids, iPhones, iPads and everything else sold at Target and Costco.

The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said. My guess is he was handed a pamphlet that read, "How Strip Mining Helps Your Community."

While it could take many years (my guess is less than two) to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war. Just ask the mountain top strip mines of Appalachia or the nice folks of Southern Illinois!

“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.

One wonders how long this report has been sitting behind the filing cabinet? And, really, how is the Taliban going to get this stuff out? By shooting it? No, this is a job for America! Caterpillar tractors and Rio Tinto Energy America, to name two off the top of my head.

Team America will have to fight the corrupt Afghani government, China, the Taliban and a host of other issues, such as the complete and total lack of any industry or infrastructure in the country. But, that's what built up America. And it's coming.

Why?

All because America wants an iPad and a hybrid car.

PA Nullifying Some Federal Gun Laws?

Pennsylvania to Consider Nullifying Some Federal Gun Laws

Pennsylvania State Representative Sam Rohrer has introduced the “Firearms Freedom Act” (HB1988) for consideration in the state legislature. The bill is “An Act prohibiting certain firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition from being subject to Federal law or Federal regulation.”

HB1988 currently has 48 additional co-sponsors, and according to FirearmsFreedomAct.com, is similar to bills recently enacted into law in both Montana and Tennessee. While the bill seems to focus solely on federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s limit on the power of the federal government. It specifically states:

The regulation of intrastate commerce is vested in the states under the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, particularly if not expressly preempted by federal law. Congress has not expressly preempted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture on an intrastate basis of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition.

Rohrer, in a recent letter to Pennsylvania House Members, addressed the issue of the commerce clause:

Under the current, expansive interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Clause in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, it is permissible for the federal government to regulate the sale of goods that are manufactured and sold exclusively within a state’s borders. Effectively, the federal courts hold that if a product might possibly find its way into streams of interstate commerce, federal laws to regulate that product are appropriate. The product need not actually be sold between states.

In 1942, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a farmer who was fined by the federal government for growing too much wheat. Effectively, the argument in Wickard v. Filburn was that the wheat he grew and consumed himself would lead to decreased wheat sales in other states, so it fell under federal jurisdiction because of the interstate commerce clause.

As recently as 2005 (Gonzales v. Raich), the U.S. Supreme Court cited Wickard as standing for the proposition that “Congress can regulate purely intrastate activity that is not itself “commercial,” in that it is not produced for interstate sale, if it concludes that failure to regulate that class of activity would undercut the regulation of the interstate market in that commodity.”

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, wheat (in Wickard) and medical marijuana (in Raich) are completely indistinguishable from such products made and sold in interstate commerce, so federal regulation is appropriate.

Under my bill, the policy of this Commonwealth would be that firearms and firearm accessories manufactured and exclusively sold in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, carrying the brand “Made in Pennsylvania” (all clear indicators of intrastate commerce), would be subject only to state law.

What does all this mean? Nullification by way of the 10th Amendment.

The principle behind such legislation is nullification, which has a long history in the American tradition. When a state ‘nullifies’ a federal law, it is proclaiming that the law in question is void and inoperative, or ‘non-effective,’ within the boundaries of that state; or, in other words, not a law as far as the state is concerned.

All across the country, activists and state-legislators are pressing for similar legislation to nullify specific federal laws within their states.

A proposed State Constitutional Amendment to effectively ban national health care will go to a vote in Arizona in 2010, and up to 10 states may consider similar Amendment proposals next session.

While some advocates and legal theorists concede that a 10th Amendment federal court battle has a slim chance of success, they point to the successful nullification of the Real ID Act as a blueprint to resist various federal laws that they see as outside the scope of the Constitution.

In the past 2 years, nearly two dozen state legislatures passed resolutions and laws refusing to implement the 2005 Real ID Act. Because of this, and without congressional repeal, The Bush-era law is effectively null and void.

Some advocates of these efforts say it doesn’t matter whether or not the federal government agrees, or even if it threatens states over funding, as they did recently with Oklahoma. Gary Marbut, author of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, took this position in a recent interview with the Tenth Amendment Center:

“We’re not depending on permission from federal judges to be able to effectuate our state-made guns bills. And, we’re working on other strategies to wrest essential and effective power from the federal government and put it where it belongs.“

Which means there's a growing state level rebellion brewing.

Fan-fuggin-Tastic Four Gets Reset

As Disney distracts us by swallowing up the entire Marvel Universe, Variety is reporting that Fantastic Four will be rebooted.

Settle down, it's being overseen by Michael Green, one of the 'Heroes' co-executive producers. This means it will start out great, but putter out.

And after the Hulk re-boot, which didn't actually make a whole lot of money over the Ang Lee Hulk, why are they beating this dead horse? They think they'll get more money out of it?There's no word if Chikils or Jessica Alba will be retained. Seems unlikely.

Look, Fantastic Four is the way out psychedelic 60's 'power cosmic' book - the way out there stuff. The sixties hazy van kind of book. Deep thoughts peppered with family banter. It doesn't make a good cartoon, and it makes for pretty lousy films too. Spiderman works because he's just a kid, like the comic book reader, who has to try to live his life and fight the Vulture on his lunch hour.

It probably doesn't help that their main villain is Dr. Doom. Doctor Doom the most iconic name, which evokes fear and cheesy laughs, but is the best villain in all comicdom. He's a cat who got kicked out of his undergrad college and conquered his native home country of Latveria. Wait how can he be a doctor if he didn't even get an undergraduate degree? But something everyone forgets is that Dr. Doom is the best all time comic evil genius. He's got technology and magic powers. He's got Iron Man's armor, and the financials of an entire country backing his plans. The only thing holding him back from world domination is the insane jealousy of Reed Richards. Oh, and the devil, but let's not get into that right now.

About this reboot and all Marvel comic reboots? “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein.

Excelsior.